Let me introduce a modern brand new cobra flash : Metz 58 AF-1. This is the most advanced model in the Metz cobra family. And it is a very good alternative to the genuine ones (SONY HVL 58 AM, NIKON SB 900, CANON Speedlite 58).
You may ask yourself why Lowcost4DSLR publish a review on a brand new cobra flash while the main purpose of this web site is to explain how to recyle old lenses and old flashguns? Tree reasons for that:
- Old thyristor flash are quite noisy (whistling) when they are recharging the capacitor from the batteries . It is not very convenient during a weeding in the church.
- When you use a huge hammerhead flashgun everybody is asking what king of equipment are you using, because nowdays people are used to see only cobra ones. (sometimes boring to explain how such old equipments can be efficient ...)
- The METZ 58 AF 1 features an Auto mode like old film flash (auto or computer or thyristor mode) and it's firmware is updatable thanks an integrated USB port.
An other reason to prefer a modern flash than an old one is to get the AF assist lamp. My DSLR body (Sony Alpha 700) feature an AF assist lamp but a lot of entry level DSLR bodies do not.
I was just about to purchase a Sony HLV 42 AM but I managed to find the Metz 58AF for the same price. The Metz 58 AF 1 is more the competitor of the Sony HLV 58 AM than the Sony 42 considering it's power and functionnalities.
When you read the datasheet of a new flash, the Guide Number (GN) may be a missleading information if you compare it with an old flash. The Metz 58 AF or the Sony HLV 58 guide number are 58. If you compare with the powerfull Sunpak 522 and it's number guide of 36 you may think that new cobra flashguns are incredibly powerfull...this is not the case:
Because 30 years ago, it was agreed to compute the Guide Number at 100 asa and 35mm focal lenght. Nowdays flash manufacturer take into account the zoom head to dispay the number guide at a 105mm focal lenght. This is why their Guide Number is 58 meters. But the real power when computed at 35mm is 35 meters! It is this figure that must be compared with the Guide Number of old flash (e.g. 37 for the Braun BVC 370).
Even if the zoomhead of a modern flash is usefull when in direct light, it is useless when you bounce the light to the ceiling or on the wall. In that case it is important to have a a powerfull flash. This why I prefered the Metz 58 AF 1 over the Sony HLV 42 AM. So I recommand to consider the real power computed at 35mm and 100 iso. The best way to get it for a modern flash is certainly to download the userguide of the flash.
The Metz 58 AF 1 can swivell in both direction to bounce the light on the ceiling or on the wall :
You can see the LCD screen and the buttons to configure the flash. The menu is clear enought.
When the battery load is not sufficient it is displayed on the screen. This feature is not frequent and avoid you only realise you are running out of battery when recycle time are longer.
An other unique feature of this flash is the secondary reflector :
The secondary reflector can be considered a fill light when you bounce the main light on the wall. It can be set to 1, 1/2 and 1/4 of it power. The TTL or auto metering will complete the light with the main relector. It can be usefull to get a better light on your subject but clearly I prefer to use a multiflash setup.
The small circular hole on the right of the red AF assist relector is the sensor for the Auto mode. I have no idea if this feature is based on a thryristor and an analogic circuitry (like during the film era) or if it is based on a numeric component? If any of you have an idea please let me know!
This Auto mode is a rare feature on a modern flash. As far as I know, only the Nikon SB800 and SB900 also feature this metering mode. When set in this mode, the flash compute himself the metering thanks to it own light sensor (the small circular hole).
The main difference with the Computer mode of old flashguns is that you do not have to report the iso setting and aperture setting on the flash. It is comunicated by the DSLR certainly using a subset of the dedicated TTL protocol. So this Auto mode is really full automatic.
The Auto mode is very accurate, it does not depend on the coating of the lens you are using (sometime lead to wrong metering on TTL systems) even when bounced to the wall. Frankly, I prefer this mode when I shoot indoor witout any diffuser (Gary Fong & lambency) : it is more accurante than TTL mode when bounced.
But, when I use a diffuser like the Lambency, some light may be reflected directly to the light sensor an lead to a faulty metering due to the shape of the diffuser and due to the sensor position :
In this case I prefer the TTL metering.
Outdoor, I also prefer the TTL metering for fill light. When used in direct light (not bounced) the TTL (and more over ADI for Sony users) is very efficient because it compute the subject distance to get a more accurate metering. For me it is a geat advantage to combine TTL and AUTO mode on the same flash unit.
One weakness of the Metz 58 AF is the cobra lock mecanism that is not strong enough to lock when loaded with an heavy diffuser like the Lambecy or Gary Fong :
The Metz 58 AF 1 feature complete TTL wireless options and can be used as a slave or as a master. It works fine but I am not an addict of this feature (TTL wireless). I like to shoot using multiflash system but I will detail my prefered setup soon...
This flash is compatible with the Sony TTL HSS mode (High Speed Synch to use faster shutter speed than the max sync speed) but as far as my DSLR allows to sync at 1/250s theorically, but in the real life I can sync at 1/320s (because of of full frame shutter on an APS-C camera for the Alpha 700). So I do not need the HSS mode.
A great feature of the Metz 58 is the USB port to update the firmware. I have easily used it to switch from firmware V2 to V3. (but the flashtool is not available for Linux). Metz is an old and very serious flash manufacturer. They also produce the Metz 48 AF 1 that has just been replaced by the Metz 50 AF 1. They both feature the USB port. They do not have the secondary reflecor of the 58 AF and they do not feature the Auto mode. Metz also still produce the Metz 45 CL which is a very old hammerhead that has been improved years over years. I was just about to purchase the Metz 45 CL instead of the 58 AF-1 but the price was twice and I was bored to look extraterrestrial with a hammerhead, so I went for the 58 AF-1.
The built quality is excellent.
A small bag is provided:
And can be attached to your belt:
Bottom line, I am very happy with this flash and it is my main flash except if I have to shoot fully manual (manual power management of the flash). In this case I would prefer the Braun BVC 370 thank to it's good ergonomics (one dedicated dial to set the power on the left thumb), otherwise I will prefer the Metz 58 AF-1.
The Metz 58 AF-1 has juste been discontinued and is replaced by the Metz 58 AF-2. The main change is the lock mechanism on the hotshoe. So I really recommand both Metz 58 AF-1 and AF-2
